Shadowing Practice: Speaking English: Master The Dark L - Learn English Speaking with Video
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229 sentences
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You can't master the American accent without mastering the dark L sound.
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If you've never heard this term before, dark L, I'm not surprised.
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If you look these words up in a dictionary, they'll all have the same phonetic symbol for L, but they're not the same sound.
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These L's are light L's.
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And these L's are dark L's.
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They're made completely differently.
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I'm Rachel, and I've been teaching the American accent for over 20 years.
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I've never met a student who naturally had this dark L sound.
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We've always had to work at it.
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But when my students master this sound, it brings a truly natural and relaxed quality to their voices.
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I've developed an extremely effective method for mastering the American accent.
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You can learn about it and sign up for my courses at RachelsEnglishAcademy .com.
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Join over 50 ,000 students who are now speaking English with confidence.
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What's the difference between these L's and these?
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How do you know when to make an L a light L and when to make it a dark L?
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It has to do with where it comes in the syllable.
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If it comes before the vowel or diphthong sound, it's a light L.
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When we write the word phonetically, you'll see either a space between syllables or mark like this or this.
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So remember, you're looking at where the L comes in the syllable.
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So if it's not at the beginning of the word or the end of the word,
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you'll have to know how the word is broken up into syllables.
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Long.
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It's before the AW vowel, believe.
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It's before the EE vowel, clean.
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Before the EE vowel, these are all light L's.
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Feel, it comes after the E.
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Valley, it comes after the AA vowel.
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Example, it comes after the schwa at the end of the word.
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These are all dark L's.
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The most important thing for you to know about the dark L sound is you don't lift your tongue tip up.
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This is probably the exact opposite of what you've learned, but what you've learned is the light L.
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Let's compare the light L to the dark L just by listening.
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I'm going to go back and forth.
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You can also look at the difference in the mouth position, but focus mainly on what you hear.
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Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
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Ll.
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So for the dark L, the tongue tip is down, and the back part of the tongue pushes down and back a little bit,
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narrowing the space here.
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That makes this dark sound.
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The pitch is low, the vibration is low here in my chest.
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Try to imitate this sound right now with me.
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O
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-o
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-o
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-o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o
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It's hard to see because of the lips, but the tip of the tongue is still forward.
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Notice that the lips are relaxed.
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Let's compare the dark L to the mouth at rest.
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The tongue tip is down, touching the back of the bottom front teeth,
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and the back part of the tongue is stretching back a bit to make this part of the throat a little narrower.
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That creates the dark sound.
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Jaw doesn't drop much and the lips are relaxed.
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That's an important note.
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The lips are relaxed.
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Some of my students, I'm thinking especially of my Vietnamese students, want to round the lips.
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That totally changes the sound.
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We don't want to do that.
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E -mail, e -mail.
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L, l, l.
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Look what happens if I round my lips.
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E -mail, e -mail.
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We do not want lip rounding, we want relaxed lips.
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Email.
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L, L, L.
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You know, this really feels more like a vowel than a consonant.
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L, L, L.
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I've seen so many students struggle because the habit to lift the tongue tip for the L is so strong.
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Just practice the dark sound, feel the tongue tip touching the backs of the bottom front teeth.
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Ll, ll.
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Feel what you have to do to your throat, ll, to get that sound down into your chest.
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Lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll part of the word comes at the end as the pitch falls down.
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Feeel, feel, feel.
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When you do it slowly, you can focus on how the tongue moves from the E position to the dark sound.
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Feeel, by relaxing and then pressing down and back a little bit in the back.
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Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee feel.
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Now a dark L, feel.
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The sound and vibration really comes down lower to bring that dark sound into my chest.
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Feel.
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But there's no symbol for this.
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In the dictionary, you'll see the word like with a light L with this symbol, and you'll see the word feel with the same symbol,
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but we know that's not right.
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I wish there was another symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for the dark L that was used regularly.
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I don't know why there isn't one.
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Other dark L words?
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Pool.
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Smile.
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The sound itself is tricky to get, but you can get it.
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Expose yourself to the sound enough times and your body will pick it up.
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That's exactly what we do in Rachel's English Academy me.
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You get so much exposure and audio training that your body naturally picks it up and makes it a habit.
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There's one other tricky thing to know about the dark L.
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You already know tongue tip down.
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Sounds more like a vowel than a consonant.
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But what about when the next sound is a vowel?
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Then after the dark sound, we do lift the tongue tip to separate it from the next vowel.
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So, dark sound, lift the tongue tip, and connect into the next vowel.
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Do not leave out the dark sound.
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We know the word feel, L has a dark sound, but let's look at the word feeling.
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The L comes after the E vowel in the first syllable, so it's still a dark L, but the next sound is a vowel,
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the beginning of the ING ending.
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I'm going to say it slowly.
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Feeling.
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Feeling.
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I have the F, the E vowel, the dark sound.
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Then I lift my tongue tip and go into the ING ending.
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Feeling.
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Feeling.
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Feeling.
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Let's look at another example.
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He He fell in love.
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Fell in.
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F -ell -en.
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F consonant, eh sound, dark sound, lifting the tongue tip quickly, and the word in.
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Fell in.
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Fell in.
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He fell in love.
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What does it sound like without the dark sound?
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It sounds like this.
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Fell in, fell in.
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No dark sound.
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Fell.
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I want that dark sound.
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It's so important in American English.
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Fell, fell in, fell in.
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He fell in love.
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I'll say it again.
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If it's a dark L, make that dark sound, L, even if you're linking into a vowel and need to lift your tongue tip.
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In Rachel's English Academy, I have students really lock in the dark sound before moving on to this idea of linking into another word.
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L is what's most important.
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Let's work on that one more time.
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Now I want you to be repeating out loud with me.
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L. L.
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Feel.
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Feel.
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Feel.
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Fill.
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Smile.
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Smile.
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Great work.
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Keep your learning going now with this video, and don't forget to check out RachelsEnglishAcademy .com to learn more about the American accent training courses
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that can help you develop a truly American voice.
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That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Speaking English: Master The Dark L”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: sound, dark, tongue, vowel, word. This video has 229 sentences and 1357 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:03. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 73% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lip noun | /lɪp/ | Either of the two fleshy protrusions around the opening of the mouth. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| symbol noun | /ˈsɪmbəl/ | A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object. |
| accent noun | /ækˈsɛnt/ | A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to… |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| compare verb | /kəmˈpɛɚ/ | To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it… |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| narrow adjective | /ˈnæɹəʊ/ | Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth. |
| throat noun | /ˈθɹoʊt/ | The front part of the neck. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| dictionary noun | /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/ | A reference work listing words or names from one or more languages, usually ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meanings or senses, oftentimes also… |
| tricky adjective | /ˈtɹɪk.i/ | Hard to deal with, complicated. |
| vibration noun | /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/ | The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated. |
| audio adjective | /ˈɔ.di.oʊ/ | Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight. |
| exposure noun | /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/ | The condition of being exposed, uncovered, or unprotected. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. | |
| fall down verb | /fɔl ˈdaʊn/ | To fall to the ground. To collapse. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| leave out verb | To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention. | |
| push down verb | To force downwards (literally or figuratively). |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We've always had to work at it.
- I'm going to go back and forth.
- We don't want to do that.
- I don't know why there isn't one.
- I'm going to say it slowly.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've never heard · I've never met · We've always had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is broken · was used |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | student who naturally · students who are |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 30 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: throat /ˈθɹoʊt/, diphthong /ˈdɪpˌθɔŋ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, vibration /vaɪˈbɹeɪʃən/, exposure /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/, schwa /ʃwɑ/
- Long words — get the stress right: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, phonetically /fəˈnɛtɪkli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lip, relax, symbol.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.